login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
Genetically Modified Algae Stores Energy as Hydrogen Fuel
October 25, 2007 at 5:59 PM
Research News
According to Associate Professor Ben Hankamer, if successfully scaled up, this process could complement or be an alternative to the present carbon based economy.
'We urgently need to develop and install new CO2-free energy production systems. Our systems offer one solution for this,' said Prof. Hankamer.
He said, during experiments, the team successfully increased the sunlight-capturing efficiency of the single-celled photosynthetic algae (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii), by silencing some of the genes responsible for producing light-harvesting proteins.
Algae have evolved two kinds of photosynthesis, one of which produces hydrogen gas under low-sulphur conditions.
Prof. Hankamer said, in order to harvest hydrogen gas from a bioreactor, a concentrated mass of algae in sealed vats could be stored that would pump out hydrogen each time the Sun is shining.
He said, as the algae were inefficient at capturing sunlight, with 90 percent of the light falling on them given off as heat or fluorescence, the team used RNA interference (RNAi) to engineer a strain of algae to make the process more efficient.
The result – the team engineered a strain of algae that only used the light it needed, rather than wasting it as fluorescence and heat.
Prof. Hankamer said, in a bioreactor this would mean that the light the strain would not need would pass through to other light-harvesting algae deep inside the mass.
|
|
|
More News on: Genetically Modified Food
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
|
|
- News Quick Links
| News Categories: |
| » | Michelle Obama: Name of Olive Tree in Italy |
| » | Beyonce: Most Beautiful Women in the World |
| » | Robin Gibb Recovers from Coma Wakes Up to Cancer |
| » | Botox and Vitamin Jabs Maintain Simon Cowell’s Young Looks |
| » | Victoria Beckham Hoping to Launch Lifestyle Website |
| More Celebrity News | |
|
